Forgiveness is a hard concept to understand and even harder to show in real life. When people hurt us, our first instinct may be to retaliate or reciprocate, but that’s not what God wants for us. We’re told to show kindness and compassion to others, and in doing so, we can experience real life.

Last week we saw our LiveStreamer, Jay, continue with his decision to try and impress his online followers instead of being kind to his real life friends. It’s gotten him into a good bit of trouble as both of his friends are not talking to him. Jay’s hero and mentor, M1dkn1ght, was able to step in and give him some good advice. Now, it’s up to Jay to seek out the forgiveness of his friends.

The father in today’s Bible story understood the importance of forgiveness. His son may have hurt him by wasting his family’s money, but the father’s love for his son was greater than his hurt, allowing him to find forgiveness. Unfortunately, the older son was not as forgiving as his father. He was so focused on what was fair that he lost sight of his love for his brother and let hurt take over. He also acted like he had always done the right thing, but the truth is that everyone makes mistakes. Because he thought he was so much more deserving, the older son chose a pity party over a real party. He missed out on the opportunity to have a great time celebrating with his family because he couldn’t forgive.

We’ve all sinned, or done wrong things, which means we’ve all done things we need to be forgiven for. We should always be ready to forgive others, because we all need forgiveness sometimes, too.

The Bring It! Challenge

We want kids to Bring It! to church. The Bring It! Challenge encourages Motion kids to bring themselves, their Bible, and scripture they’ve learned to Motion. Not only can kids be rewarded for bringing it, but the Bring It! Challenge is a fun way to grow and learn more about God and how He wants us to live.

During jTV, kids can earn fun prizes each week. Kids have to FIND Ephesians 4:32 in their Bible, RECITE it from memory, and SAY what our series virtue, forgiveness, means!

Find something in your house you can use as a “tunnel” to crawl under or through (table, tent, chair). Say, “Today, we are going to follow each other through the tunnel!” Encourage your toddler to crawl through the tunnel, following you. Say, “We did a great job following each other!”

Choose different toddlers to be the leader as you explain other ways to move through the tunnel:

wiggle like a worm

hop like a frog

crawl with their eyes closed

flop like a fish

Continue as long as your toddler is interested. At the end of the activity say, “Perfect! I love the way we followed each other through the tunnel! We can follow Jesus, too! He wants us to follow Him! Who can you follow?” Encourage your toddler to say,“I can follow Jesus!”

Children can recite the verse every week in February to earn a special memory verse card. When your child receives a memory verse card, celebrate with them on learning their verse and put the card on their Quest poster.

FORGIVENESS: Showing loving to someone who has hurt you.Series Memory Verse: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)Main Point: I can forgive others.Bible Story: The Unmerciful Servant | Matthew 18:21-22

Forgiveness is a hard concept to understand and even harder to show in real life. When people hurt us, our first instinct may be to retaliate or reciprocate, but that’s not what God wants for us. We’re told to show kindness and compassion to others, and in doing so, we can experience real life.

During the jTV series, we’ll follow a kid named Jay who just started his LiveStream – a way for him to show everybody online who he is and the fun things him and his friends do. In an effort to increase the number of followers on his stream, Jay will have to choose between fun and friends.

This weekend we learned forgiveness is not a feeling; it’s a decision. Many times, we won’t feel like forgiving someone who has hurt us. Even though Joseph’s brothers hurt him and sold him as a slave, he decided to forgive them. He could have been mad and had them killed, but he decided to forgive them for their actions.

People will hurt us, sometimes on purpose, but other times on accident. Forgiveness is not always easy, but God asks us to show forgiveness to those who have hurt us. We can forgive others because we have been forgiven by God.

The Bring It! Challenge

We want kids to Bring It! to church. The Bring It! Challenge encourages Motion kids to bring themselves, their Bible, and scripture they’ve learned to Motion. Not only can kids be rewarded for bringing it, but the Bring It! Challenge is a fun way to grow and learn more about God and how He wants us to live.

During jTV, kids can earn fun prizes each week. Kids have to FIND Ephesians 4:32 in their Bible, RECITE it from memory, and SAY what our series virtue, forgiveness, means!

This month we are learning, “I can follow Jesus.“ God sent His Son, Jesus, to be our friend forever and also to make a way for us to know God forever. We will learn the story, “Jesus and His Friends,” in Matthew 4:18-22.

Jesus began to tell a lot of people about God, so He asked a group of fishermen to leave their boats and follow Him. There were twelve men who left their jobs to follow Jesus and to be His helpers! They all wanted to teach people about God’s love.

We made a Bible story mat to help us remember we can follow Jesus. Place the Meal Time Bible Story Mat at the table where your toddler eats. Before each meal, point to the place mat and review the Bible story with your child:

Who is Jesus waving to? (some fishermen)

What was Jesus asking them to do? (To follow Him and help Him tell people about God.)

Say, “Yes, Jesus asked the fishermen to leave their boats to follow Him. He wanted them to help Him tell people about God! Just like the fishermen followed Jesus, who else can follow Jesus?” Encourage your toddler to say, “I can follow Jesus!”